They were down in the series 2-1 against the Spurs and down by four points in the game entering the fourth quarter. In the previous two playoff encounters between these teams although both being conference finals series, both series ended in six games with each team taking a conference finals from one another. Steven Adams had 16 points, rolling to the rim after setting pin-down picks for Durant – the Spurs were so focused on the hot KD that Adams got clean looks. Kevin Durant scored 26 points, Serge Ibaka added 15 and Steven Adams had 11 rebounds for Oklahoma City.
Advertisement
San Antonio had LaMarcus Aldridge, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard each score 20 points or more, but crucially Leonard was held scoreless in the last quarter.
“They have been down, but things do slow down in the playoffs”, Popovich said.
It helped, of course, that Durant was red-hot. I also hope that the woman who tried to grab him at the end of game two is in the crowd. In danger of falling behind 3-1, the Thunder outscored the Spurs 34-16 in the fourth quarter for a 111-97 win.
“Durant got away from us”, San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard said.
The Hawks led by as many as 11 but were dominated in the closing minutes. Manu Ginobili contributed to game four with nine points, two rebounds, and one assist.
During the first half of Game 4, Kevin Durant scored 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
Boris Diaw’s 3-pointer from the corner in the closing seconds of the third quarter gave the Spurs an 81-77 lead heading into the fourth. And that’s when Kevin Durant chose to take over. Enes Kanter’ fast-break dunk pushed the lead to 100-93. San Antonio experienced one three-game slide in the final month of the regular season, and suffered only one home loss all year.
“We know they’ll come at us hard in San Antonio, and we have to be prepared for it”. San Antonio got sloppy with the ball and the Thunder pushed the pace. “We were having a good game, but it was a close game”.
“Too many shots”, Westbrook said. We didn’t make shots. Regardless, he remains the best two-way player for either team. The “beautiful basketball” Spurs finished the game with 12 assists on 40 made field goals, which works out to an assist on 30 percent of the team’s makes. “We’ve got another game here”. Guys kept making plays at certain times but we had a lot of open looks that we didn’t make. He was great. He was great. “You know I turned the ball over, especially when the game was on the line”.
Advertisement
David West had a nice stretch early on where he made a couple of jumpers and had an authoritative block. He’s actually guarding future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan less. Instead, the series moves back to Texas tied at 2-2. Durant’s mother, Wanda Pratt, attended the game.
